FGCU VB: Tournament Update 2

With the tournament in tact, two teams remain in the tournament and will go toe-to-toe in championship: No. 1 Kennesaw State and No. 3 FGCU. The Owls (20-4) managed to defeat and eliminate host and defending champions Lipscomb (16-13) 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23) and enter into their second conference championship match in program history (first: 2015).

Senior outside hitter and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Anaiah Boyer had a double-double of 16 kills and 20 digs. The Lithia Springs native also added four blocks and one assist for the match.

Senior A-SUN Setter of the Year, A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, A-SUN All-Academic Team member and A-SUN Co-Scholar of the Year, Kristi Piedimonte, had 37 assists, three kills, two aces, seven blocks and eight digs.

Senior libero Katarina Morton had three assists and 12 digs.

The Owls had a total of 42 total blocks. The duo of junior middle blocker and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member, Liesl Engelbrecht, and senior middle blocker Rachel Taylor had 10 blocks assists each. Engelbrect added seven kills, one solo block and five digs while Taylor added three kills, one assist and two digs.

A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Lauren Chastang added eight kills, five blocks and one dig while junior outside hitter and A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Sydni Shelton added seven kills, five blocks and one dig of her own.

For Lipscomb, despite it being the end of their season, junior outside hitter and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member and A-SUN Co-Player of the Year Carlyle Nusbaum had a double-double of 26 kills and 11 digs. The Overland Park native also added an ace and four blocks to the mix.

Sophomore setter and A-SUN All-Academic Team member Morgan Elmore had 54 assists, one block and six digs.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Anderson had seven kills, two aces, one block and 21 digs.

Senior libero and A-SUN All-Academic Team member Brittany Thomas added four assists and 21 digs.

Junior middle blocker Ca'Layci Coffey had six kills and six blocks and sophomore middle blocker Maddie Phillips had nine kills and two digs.

"I was extremely proud of our girls tonight, said Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal. "All year long we've challenged our girls to give it everything they had and tonight we saw that. This was a great match, definitely a championship-caliber match, and our girls rose to the occasion."

"That was a championship level match against a program with a lot of tradition. I'm really proud how we stayed composed and pulled out a tight fourth set. Obviously, we have another huge one tomorrow," said Kennesaw head coach Keith Schunzel.

After splitting the series 1-1 during the season, the Eagles (22-9) had no problem taming the Dolphins (18-10) in the grudge match as they implied a 3-0 shutout (25-20, 26-24, 25-21) to advance to the championship for the third time and the second straight year in their program's history (2009, 2016).

"I think it looked a little bit like yesterday where there was a gradual improvement from set to set," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "A lot of positive things. Snowy was fantastic and Amanda did a great job coming through attacking wise. I think our blocking and our serving dictated a lot of the match. That's a good foundation to build on, but we're going to have to be super aggressive tomorrow to be in a position to get an automatic bid to the tournament."

"I'm sad to see the season end. I am heartbroken for the team in how we ended, but I am so proud of the season we had," stated JU Head Coach Julie Darty. "We accomplished so much this season, and I think there are a lot of things we can build off of. We are still so young in a lot of positions, so I think this was about growing up. We grew up tonight."

After a tough matchup in the quarterfinals by getting only one kill, junior outside hitter and A-SUN First Team All-Conference and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, A-SUN Co-Player and Co-Scholar of the Year, and CoSIDA Academic All-District recipient, Amanda Carroll, bounced back offensively with a double-double of 18 kills and 17 digs. The Albuquerque native also added one assist, one ace and three blocks.

A-SUN Freshman of the Year and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Snowy Burnam also produced a double-double of 13 kills and 11 digs. The Palm City native also added seven blocks for the game.

Junior setter, A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member and A-SUN All-Academic Team member, Maggie Rick, had 34 assists along with two kills, two aces, two blocks and eight digs.

Senior defensive specialist Courtney Stephens had 12 digs, two aces and two assists while junior libero Karissa Rhoades had 10, four assists and two aces.

Sophomore middle blocker and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Dani Serrano had only one kill, but managed to get six blocks and one dig.

Other players that contributed to the match were junior right side hitter Kaiti Krivdo, freshman defensive specialist Alayna Ryan, sophomore outside hitter Giovanna Borgiotti and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Cortney VanLiew.

Krivdo had four kills, six blocks and three digs, Ryan added one assist and two blocks, Borgiotti had three kills and two digs and VanLiew had five kills, one assist and two digs.

For Jacksonville, sophomore middle blocker and A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Amarrah Cooks led the team with 13 kills and added four blocks.

"Amarrah was unreal tonight; I have never seen her play with so much fire. Alleah was trying to get her as many balls as possible because she was unstoppable," credited Darty

Sophomore setter and A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Alleah Stamatis had 36 assists along with two kills, four blocks and six digs.

Senior libero, A-SUN Defensive Player of the Year and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Mackenzie Swan had 22 digs.

Senior middle blocker and A-SUN Second Team All-Conference member Olga Nushtayeva had six kills, one ace, three blocks and two digs.

Sophomore outside hitter and A-SUN First Team All-Conference member Mallory Mattingly was one kill shy of a double-double and finished with nine kills, one assist, one block and 16 digs.

Other players that contributed for the Dolphins' last match included senior outside hitter Cristina Finan (five kills, one assist, one ace, one block and 10 digs), senior middle blocker Jessica Armstrong (six kills and two blocks) and outside hitter and A-SUN All-Freshman Team Kendall Murr (11 digs).

"These girls will remember this feeling; we will learn from this," added Darty. "I'm still so proud of this group – no gym and a lot of setbacks, but also a huge amount of success. We will be better for it."

With Lipscomb out, a new champion will be named on Saturday November 18. Not only will the winning team win the tournament, but they will also earn an automatic bid in the national tournament and represent the A-SUN Conference.